2. Quandre Diggs is poised to make an immediate impact
As evidenced by their move to release Bill Bentley last week, the Lions are quite deep at cornerback, especially at the nickel spot. Bentley became expendable in part because sixth-round pick Quandre Diggs has already left a very positive impression. He is in position to make an impact this season, potentially as the No. 1 nickelback. He will face a heated competition for that role with Josh Wilson and Nevin Lawson, but so far, so good for the rookie.
3. Eric Ebron is in an unenviable position
Let's just be clear: Eric Ebron needs to take a major step forward in his second year in the NFL. Not only does he need to make people forget about his lackluster rookie season, but the Lions offense needs him to emerge as their No. 3 receiving option in order to be a better unit overall.
The unfortunate thing for Ebron is that he's in a position where every single play he makes -- good or bad -- is going to be dissected during training camp. Even during OTAs and the minicamp there were seemingly daily updates on if he had any drops or not, and it's clear that Ebron is going to be one of the focal points of training camp. I suppose this just comes along with being a former 10th overall pick, but at the same time, I'm more interested in how Ebron performs during the regular season. How he performs before then could certainly foreshadow what's to come, but I think we all need to take a step back and try not to overreact to every little thing that happens with Ebron this summer. Let's try to be somewhat patient before we start putting labels on a player only entering his second season in the league.
4. The Lions are bringing Laken Tomlinson along slowly
When the Lions drafted Larry Warford in the third round back in 2013, everybody expected him to be the starting right guard to open the season. Despite this, the Lions didn't hand him the starting job or anything like that. Instead, the Lions put him in a competition with Dylan Gandy and Jake Scott, and Warford actually spent quite a bit of time with the third-string offense before finally emerging as the starting right guard by the end of the preseason.
This year, it looks like the Lions are taking a similar approach with first-round pick Laken Tomlinson at left guard. Everybody expects him to be the starting left guard when the regular season opens, but Manny Ramirez seemingly got the majority of the No. 1 reps at that position this offseason. With Travis Swanson locked in at center, Tomlinson will have to beat out Ramirez to secure the starting job at left guard, and although that will likely happen by the end of the preseason, this isn't a situation where he is just going to be handed the No. 1 spot on the depth chart because of his draft status.